This invention relates to the field of suspension devices configured to support bombs carried by aircraft. More specifically, this invention relates to swaybrace assemblies for steadying and restraining bombs or similar loads suspended from racks on aircraft.
Swaybrace devices are used in suspension racks for bombs and the like on aircraft to steady and to restrain a bomb or similar load from shifting, swaying or otherwise moving from the stored position in the bomb rack during flight maneuvers of the aircraft.
Experience on some existing fighter aircraft have shown that it is extremely time consuming to load weapons onto a multiple carriage bomb rack. Each bomb is restrained against sway at several contact points using swaybrace devices, and a large portion of the time spent in loading a bomb rack is spent in manually adjusting swaybrace bolts with the load in place in the rack such that access to the swaybrace bolts is severely restricted.
Representative prior art swaybrace devices are such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,620 to Paraskewik which discloses a swaybrace device comprising paired sets of scissored swaybraces restrained by clamps mounted on a threaded shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,528 to Baker discloses a device comprising two cantilevered swaybrace arms, each having two oppositely placed sway bolts.
Existing assemblies for swaybracing loads installed in bomb racks on aircraft suffer certain disadvantages including the necessity to adjust the force and position of the swaybraces after the bomb is installed onto the bomb rack, or the swaybrace devices may provide excessive load on the bomb rack load suspension system.
These and other disadvantages in prior art devices have been overcome or significantly reduced in critical importance by the present invention providing a semiautomatic swaybrace which may be adjusted and locked into a spring loaded retracted position prior to loading of the bomb rack when access to the rack is clear. Once the load is installed onto the bomb rack, the latch restraining the semiautomatic swaybrace in the retracted position may be released to allow the swaybrace to seat and center itself firmly against the load in the bomb rack. The novel swaybrace of the present invention may be configured to be compatible with existing bomb suspension systems without affecting design of the associated release mechanisms.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a semiautomatic swaybrace for steadying and restraining loads carried on an aircraft bomb rack.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a semiautomatic swaybrace which may be adjusted prior to loading of the rack and which may then seat and center itself against the load.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as the detailed description thereof proceeds.